1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing and data communications.
2. Description of the Background Art
In various conventional systems, multiple devices utilize a common set of data that is dynamically changing. Changes in the data set discovered by one of the devices may be broadcast via an update message or packet to the other devices. In addition, to make sure or confirm that the data set is consistent between the devices, the entire set of data is periodically transmitted between the devices. Unfortunately, transmission of the entire set of data can significantly increase the amount of communication traffic during the periodic data synchronizations.
In one conventional example, a routing table may be used by multiple devices in a system. Each of these devices may discover additional or new routing information, and the routing table needs to be updated with this new information. Typically, an update packet may be broadcast from the device discovering the new information to the other devices. In addition, in order to make sure that inconsistencies do not develop and cause problems, the entire routing table may be periodically transmitted between the devices. Routing tables can be very large, such that communication traffic may be increased noticeably when an entire routing table is transmitted across a network.